Summer Getaway: Fire Island Day Trip

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Read my full disclosure here.

I love where we live – especially in the summer months. Honestly, there isn’t too much of a need to plan big getaways, there is so much to do here on Long Island! But even though I have lived here almost my whole life, there was one place I was really hoping to get to this summer! So a few weekends ago we took a Fire Island Day Trip!

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

Photo credit: Vito Fun via VisualHunt / CC BY

Plan Your Fire Island Day Trip

Fire Island is a barrier island off the main island of Long Island. Along the south shore (where we live) there are a few barrier islands – if you have heard of or been to places like Long Beach, Atlantic Beach, Jones Beach or Robert Moses, you have been to a barrier island! But unlike those others, Fire Island is only accessible by boat.

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do
A map of Fire Island from Brownstoner

Okay that’s apparently not 100% true – you can access the eastern and western most parts of Fire Island by parking at either Robert Moses or Smith Point and walking over to Fire Island proper.

 

We chose instead to take the ferry from Bay Shore to Ocean Beach.

 

Getting To Fire Island

 

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

There are several passenger ferries that operate out of Bay Shore and Sayville. Each ferry services different parts of Fire Island, so you need to have an idea of where you want to head before you board. We chose Ocean Beach because from my research that seemed to be the most built up (stores, restaurants, etc.) and the more family friendly part of the island.

We arrived at the ferry terminal around 11am one Saturday morning in July. We bought our tickets ($19 round trip for adults, $9 round trip for kids) and then I dropped off my family and our beach cart at the ferry building.

At that time of day, the official Ferry parking lots were all full, so I had to drive into Bay Shore and park in town. I found a street with 8 hour parking until 6pm. This was by far the worst part of the trip, and it wasn’t that bad because I didn’t mind the 10-15 minute walk back to the ferry. In Bay Shore, most streets are two hour parking and the municipal lots have very few spots that are 12 hours. Most are 4 hours.

The other parking option is to park at Touro College and take a free shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal.

At the ferry dock, once our boat arrived, it was a bit of a cattle call to get all of the passengers on the boat. We checked our beach cart ($5 one-way charge) and found some seats upstairs. The ride over to Fire Island took about 20 minutes, with nice bay breezes and beautiful views. I felt like we were on an exciting adventure and the kids loved it.

 

Ocean Beach on Fire Island

We arrived in Ocean Beach around 12:30 and disembarked in town. There is a strip of stores, restaurants and bars with the bay to your north and the beach to your south. Since there are no vehicles, you can push your cart or wagon and walk in the pedestrian streets.

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

When we arrived, we checked out the lunch options. You CANNOT eat on the beach (and I saw police walking around giving tickets to enforce this rule) so we had planned to eat lunch in a restaurant before heading to the ocean.

We checked out the restaurant options and decided to head into Rachel’s Bakery. I had read about Rachel’s online and this place did not disappoint! Hubby had a delicious sandwich and I had an amazing fried goat cheese salad. Our server was so friendly and our kids loved that the table was covered in butcher paper and they gave us crayons to draw.

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

After eating, our server offered to give us waters to take to the beach and she pointed us in the right direction.

 

 

The Beach on Fire Island

 

We then took about a 10-minute walk south through the lovely neighborhood. The houses are all so unique and carefully decorated. It was awesome to just be able to stroll through the streets with no cars!

When we got to the beach we found there is no charge, but there is a big staircase that takes you up and over the dune. Since we had our Tommy Bahama Beach cart, we had to unload it a bit, and carry it up the stairs (and then bop it down with the big wheels). Not something I would want to do 10x a day, but it was fine for our day trip. I did notice other people left their wagons on the north side of the dune, but locked them up.

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

Once we got on the beach, it was similar to other Ocean beaches in our area. It was very clean (maybe because of the no eating policy) and on the day of our visit it was hot, with awesome waves. We swam most of the day!

I did also notice there was no bathroom at this beach. There were restrooms at the restaurant, which we used. There were also public restrooms at the ferry dock in town. This is definitely something important to know before you go!

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

 

Day Trip to Fire Island

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

After a few hours in the sand, we walked back over the dune and into town. We finished the day with ice cream from Beaches and Cream. Before our ferry home we walked in and out of the souvenir shops. Since it was Saturday night, the bars were packed and live music was playing. Very fun atmosphere for sure!

We hopped on the 6:00 ferry back to Bay Shore (this time they did not charge for the hand luggage) and we were home soon after. We had a ton of fun on our day trip to Fire Island. It felt like a far getaway, even though we were only in the next county over!

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do

I would love to return to the island and check out some of the other neighborhoods. We had planned to walk to Ocean Bay Park but ran out of time. I also want to visit the lighthouse (which you can drive to).

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do #LongIsland #FireIsland #NewYork

Have you done a Fire Island Day Trip? What are you best day-trip tips?

Needing to stay the night? Check out the Fire Island Hotel in Ocean Bay Park. Click here for the best rate!


pin for later:

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do #LongIsland #FireIsland #NewYork

 

Fire Island Day Trip | Day Trip to Fire Island, New York | Long Island | Beach | Summer | ferry | getaway | Fire Island NY | Ocean Beach | NYC Day Trip | NYC Day Trip things to do #LongIsland #FireIsland #NewYork

 

FIRE ISLAND DAY TRIP ESSENTIALS:


 

OTHER AWESOME LONG ISLAND POSTS:

48 Hours in … Greenport, Long Island

A Visit to Bedell Cellars

A Day at Splish Splash

 

OTHER AWESOME BEACH POSTS:

Family Beach Essentials

Family Travel Bloggers Tell: Best Family Beach Destinations

Best Big Island Beaches


Devour a tasty meal, not your precious time with HelloFresh! Get fresh ingredients & tasty recipes

 

 

Follow Momma To Go on social media!   Twitter, Facebook , Pinterest, and Instagram

Please share:

43 Comments to “Summer Getaway: Fire Island Day Trip”

  1. What a fun beach to have so close to you! I live in the midwest, so it takes us about 2 days to drive to any beach on the east coast. The Tommy Bahama Beach Cart is really cool. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. Your kids are adorable, and it looks like they had a great time!

    Reply
  2. Alexandra

    Thanks for the tour of Fire Island! The no restrooms thing would be a huge problem for our family – so I guess we’ll only see it from your post. ?

    Reply
  3. That looks so fun! I have a lot of friends who go to Fire Island for weekend getaways, but I never actually knew where it was- ha! I”m glad you included the map 😉

    Reply
  4. Looks like an awesome beach day! Though I have never heard of not being able to eat on the beach, but I guess it’s a great way to keep the place clean. And a good enough reason to dine somewhere new 🙂

    Reply
  5. I love the idea of a day trip – just a quick get away without the need for extensive planning and money! This looks like a great place to visit. Also, the name of that ice cream shop – Beaches and Cream – is fantastic 🙂

    Reply
  6. This is a really great article! The beach looks like a great place to go and relax and have fun too. Great video,, I bet the boat would be so much fun! Hope you had a fantastic time – and thanks for sharing your adventure with us!

    Reply
  7. I’d never heard of Fire Island before, despite having visited NY a few times over the years (truth be told, I never ventured to Long Island during those trips either =/). Looks like a nice getaway from the city! And I think the no-eating policy at the beach is GENIUS.

    Reply
  8. That has all the components of a fab day for me: boat trip, a walk, beach time, great food. I’ll get my plane! I also love that you live somewhere where it’s worth owning a beach cart; all my childhood memories of the coast are of we kids bearing deckchairs, picnic bags, flasks and beach toys making a long line from the car park to the sand. Fab memories..

    Reply
  9. Kelly

    This is so sad, but I have never been to Fire Island. And I had no idea it was so closetoRobert Moses Beach. I love it there! Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *